Crono's Story - Transformation Saga (2nd Saga)
by Traum
Summary: The lives of two warriors, on opposite ends of the spectrum, are forever interwined, as a new generation of Z Warriors are born to combat an evil presence heading towards Earth.
1. Crono's Story (Chapter 34)

Crono's Story  
  
Chapter 34  
  
Yukia  
  
Change had never been a thing I could easily accept. Change, I rationed, rooted the seeds of doubt and fear that ran rampant amongst the world I lived in, and I had vowed never to let these doubts and inhibitions to damage my life in any way. As far as I can remember, I had always feared and stayed away from change, avoiding it at every turn. Only once did I slip, allowing the change around me to interfere with my emotions and my thoughts. The pain I felt on that day was un-like a pain I would ever experience again.  
  
So from that day on, I had fought with myself, and with the people around me, to contain myself within my emotions, and within my life. For three years, I succeeded in doing so, until Crono and Yush decided to destroy everything I'd worked so hard to retain.  
  
Their arrival changed absolutely everything. None of the relationships anyone had formed with Cris held any meaning now, as it was quite evident Crono was a totally different person from his other red-haired counterpart. Crono was more out-spoken, less shy, and far more dangerous than Cris had ever been; in essence, everything I liked about Cris had been washed away in Crono. Though his allegiance was un-questionable, everything else about the sworded warrior was unknown, and very debatable. His actions were outright and direct, but the soft, almost reserved way in which he spoke left one to wonder just what his true intentions were. Deep down though, I knew that my resentment of Crono did not stem from his personality, but form the way he acted around a certain person…  
  
Nikita and I had, to say the least, a very insecure relationship. It had started off on the right foot five years ago, when she and I met. She had been only ten, but was already a very powerful fighter, and I instantly gained her respect. As she grew up though, I began to find myself looking at her as less of a comrade, and more of a woman. Then, two and a half years before Crono and Yush arrived, she and I proceeded to get into a fight over who would be the first to test out the then brand new Arena. We quickly mended our association into a sort of rocky friendship, but soon, I realized that my feelings for her had grown since that fight, and had went far beyond any kind of friendship I'd ever felt before. She had only been fifteen then, but she was already more physically and mentally mature than any other woman I'd ever meant before. I tried to hold back my feelings, to keep my thoughts and sentiments to myself, but I found out, very quickly, that that was much easier said than done. I could tell from the way she looked at me, the way she acted around me, and the manner she conducted herself in, that she did not possess feelings similar to my own, and hence, I told myself to shut these feelings out, and concentrate on the threat that loomed over the horizon. But instead of suppressing these emotions, they grew stronger, until one day, when I could not hold myself back any longer, and I revealed what I'd been keeping secret for so long. To say she was stunned would be a very bad understatement; more like shocked and almost horrified. She was amazed that I saw her in the light I did, and was even more amazed that I would sacrifice our "friendship" in order to tell her what I did.  
  
Agony would not describe the pain I felt that day, or the ache I would feel for days to come. But after the suffering had passed, I'd made a vow. I told myself I would never allow Nikita to be hurt again, to let her fall prey to the very pain she had exposed me to. I made sure to never let my emotions get the best of me again, and made a conscious effort to distance myself from Nikita, so that she would not expect me to be watching over her, when in fact, I was. For two long years, I succeeded in my goal, and had managed to re-start the foundation for a new relationship with Nikita; and then Yush arrived.  
  
Yush and his crew of Caprian's not only showed me that I could not defend her, but that she in actuality had a far more capable protector already at her side. And as much as I resented Crono for that, I knew just how much he meant to our group now. He had a repertoire of attacks far beyond any I'd seen before, and a natural born will to fight, far beyond any I'd ever witnessed before. In that regards, I had no choice but to give him the utmost respect. That, however, was where my admiration for him ended.  
  
Still, that in itself seemed motivation enough for me. As long as he was physically stronger than I was, I knew that he would only supersede me in Nikita's eyes. Thus, I was determined to grow stronger than I had ever dreamed. If there was one positive effect about Yush's arrival on Earth (besides his apparent recruitment), was that he showed us just how ragtag our group seemed. According to the Vannattasanian native, he was actually one of the weaker officers within the army, and that the men under his command were some of the puniest in the army. This left a huge gap for us to make up, especially if we intended to not only defend the dragonballs, but also put an end to the entire Caprian army.  
  
This being the case, I knew that the twenty months before they arrived would be the hardest, most intense and difficult year and a half I would ever experience. To most this would be a daunting task, but after already dealing with similar conditions for the past five years, the challenge ahead of me was far from daunting; more like… exhilarating.  
  
So as I climbed out of my Capsule Corp. air-car, and out onto the vast expanse of the northeastern greenery, my mind was focused, beyond a level any regular human could match. I felt the light, fall wind run through my hair, smelt the freshness of the few flowers left remaining, and heard the sounds of the nearby sea crash on the shore. I looked up into the sky, the blue expanse of light and clouds, and knew that every second they came closer, nearing the world, and woman, I treasured so deeply.  
  
I leaned back into the air-car, and slowly pulled out the delicate gravity generator. Immersing myself in ki, I shot out into the center of the field, came to a halt over a flat patch of dirt, and gently placed the fragile piece of equipment down. Next, I glided across the ground and hopped back into my air-car. I floored the ignition pedal, and took the car at least twenty kilometres away from my training grounds before flying back to the site of the gravity generator. As I landed next to the small, box-like hunk of metal and electronics, I found a small gecko climbing over the top of it, instinctively smelling the new invader of his territory. I picked up the green lizard and gently placed him in the thick of the grass, a few metres away. Before I turned my attention back to the generator, I closed my eyes, concentrated my ki within myself, and then in a few seconds, released it.  
  
A surge of invisible, impregnable ki energy shot out from my body in all directions, creating a circular aura of ki exactly ten kilometres in diameter. The small surge of ki immediately activated the primeval, beyond natural sense of fear in absolutely every animal in the radius of the blast. As soon as the ki began to dissipate, the grassland around me came to life. Animals of all shapes and sizes popped up from out of the prairie, their heads whipping in my direction before they shot out of their hiding places and scampered across the field, instinctively fleeing from a presence, a fear not even they could understand. I realized right then just how powerful a sensation fear was.  
  
Once I was sure all the living animals capable of fleeing had escaped from the radius of the gravity generator, I checked to make sure my weighted clothes were tightly fit, then bent down and adjusted the read-out of the display screen to 70 G. I took one last look over the long, expansive prairie, and then flicked the "on" switch.  
  
The weight of gravity seventy times that of what I'd grown accustomed to crashed down on me. I was almost floored under the immense weight, but somehow managed to keep my balance long enough for my legs to stop wobbling and grow accustomed to the new force pushing down on me. Once I was certain I was ready, I slowly pushed up with my legs, finding a resistance I knew all too well. I breathed in slowly, having complete faith in my training up to this point, while knowing that I would have to go beyond anything I'd ever dreamed of before, just to contribute to the upcoming fight.  
  
Before I even noticed, the grass all around me was flattened, then crushed, then grounded into tiny rolls of green by the gravity I had put them under. There were few rocks or mountains nearby, but the few that were also gave way to the huge pressure, crunching down to sizes almost half of the norm.  
  
Suddenly, something very strange occurred to me. Perhaps it was because I activated the gravity field so quickly after using my fear-enhancer, or maybe it was something else, but a tidal wave of emotion suddenly came over me. My mind was pounded with a streak of terrible visions, one right after the other, a horror film un-like any other. The pictures moved, creating themselves from the thoughts that I hid in the back of my mind. They formulated a video of the future, of my future.  
  
The images moved too quickly to discern individual moments, but their message was too clear to miss. They showed absolutely everything: The Caprians landing, their slaughter of the people of Earth, the loss of each one of the Z Warriors, the death of the final human being, and the claiming of the dragonballs. I didn't question this future, my mind wouldn't let me. Somewhere, deep within myself, I knew that this was the future, the only one that could ever occur. A feeling of dread shot up within me, which soon exploded into full-blown fear. I fell to the ground, succumbing to the fright and weight. I rolled on the ground in silent agony, realizing that nothing, absolutely nothing could stop the upcoming turn of events from taking place; not me, not Nikita, not even Crono could save us from this horror, this utter defeat.  
  
The entire experience lasted only a few seconds, a few short-lived moments of pure terror. That, however, was long enough to firmly plant the vision within my mind, to allow the fear a foothold in my memories, in my life.  
  
I remained on the ground, un-willing to get up; seeing no reason why I should. The future had been set, established in my mind, and I knew I had no means by which to change it. I laid on the earth for several minutes, the fear causing my heart to beat at in-human speeds, my lungs to contract and expand more quickly than they'd ever done before, and my mind to freeze; turning into a relative ice-cube of emotions down-trodden and paralysed by fear.  
  
Fear, I then understood, was not something you could fight, and neither was change; the two, more often than not, went hand in hand. You could not fight them; you could only accept them, or they would defeat you. I then began to wonder which of the effects they would have on me. 


	2. Crono's Story (Chapter 35)

Crono's Story

**_ _**

Chapter 35

_ _

# Nikita

The rain beat down on me in endless sheets.Wave after wave of droplets fell upon my hair, upon my face, upon my body.They poured over the blood that soaked my hands, cleansing the skin of the putrid red filth.I was held down in pain, doubled over in an endless embrace with it; unable to move, even though a far greater pain stood over me.

_I could not see my attacker, could not hear his words or his laugh, but I felt him, through my heart, through my mind, I could feel his overriding hatred of me.I had no way in which to defend myself, and there was no one to help me, I was alone, again._

_I sobbed in agony, my body convulsing in fear and distaste.I didn't want to die alone.Of all the ways I knew I could die, I'd always feared that I would be alone as it happened.The blood pumped forth from my stomach, and onto my hands yet again.The rain continued to strike down upon me, till I could taste the thin liquid within my very soul.I wanted to cry out, to scream for a saviour, someone to be with me as I perished; yet I knew that no one would come._

I relinquished to the pain, allowed it to swallow me whole, consuming the last bits of life that remained in me.I made one last, futile attempt to glimpse my attacker, but my head was struck down again, and I was knocked backwards, and off the cliff that I lay perched atop of.I plummeted down, alone, for a second, my assailant finally making himself audible to me.He laughed.He hollered in joy at my loneliness, at my anguish.The last thing I saw was my blood pour out of my stomach and onto my hands, only to be washed away by even more rain.Then I hit the ground.

* * *

It had been a week and a half since we had defeated Yush, yet the dream remained.It was locked within my head like a fortune within a vault.It left me sleepless, tired, and frightened every time I witnessed it.I didn't know what it meant, and I think that's what scared me the most.

I rose up from my bed, and swept a lock of blonde hair out of my eyes, yawning the whole while.I needed sleep, but I knew that any attempt to reach such a state would be futile.The dreams haunted my mind while I rested, like a ghost I couldn't fight, like I didn't want to fight.I got up from my bedstead and headed over to the refrigerator near my room.Popping the small device ajar, I found a drastic lack of edible food within, and made a mental note to go back into the city and pick up some more food later in the day.

I yawned again, and wiped away what little sleep I had in my eye.I went to my dresser, which stood directly opposite my bed, took out some fresh training clothes, and then headed into the small bathroom that accompanied my living quarters.I quickly changed, and then looking into the mirror, found out just how bad my insomnia had become.

Bags lay heavy and impenetrable under my eyes, while my hair was frizzy, tossed, and untameable.I tried to blink away the haunting visage that stared at me through the mirror, with no success.Slowly, tiredly, I patted down my hair, and tied it back into a ponytail with a small ribbon.I shook my head once again before exiting the bathroom and once more hopelessly searching for some food.

Once my hunt had proved fruitless, I told myself to go up and start training again._Maybe that will make me tired enough to go to sleep._Even as I thought though, I knew it was a lie.I climbed the thin, metal ladder that protruded from my bedroom, and found myself in the all-too familiar training room.

I pushed myself out of the open hole at the top of the latter, and sat down on the red tiled floor.I lazily felt around for the lid to the opening, quickly finding it and placing it over the exposed air.I got up from the ground, and began to do some rather easy stretches, making sure all my muscles were well prepared for the mornings' activities.

As I stretched, I noticed a small buzz sound sheathing through the air, saturating my ears with its annoying hum.I realized that it wasn't the gravity machine that was doing it, nor the space pod itself, but it was I._I can't be **that** sleep-deprived, _I thought, partly scared for my own well-being.Even being so, I went on with the stretches, rationalizing that the buzz would go away if I simply tired myself out.

Once I'd finished with the stretches, I walked over to the central core of the space pod Capsule Corp had so delightfully given me, and flicked on the main computer.A whizzing sound shot through the pod, as the view screen on the main pillar directly in front of me came to life.It read:Gravity Level = Normal.Energy Remaining = 68%.Hours of 500G Gravity Time Remaining = 85.

_Yeah right, I don't even use a tenth of that, I probably have a week or two left before I have to recharge the battery on this thing._I punched a few buttons on the control panel beneath the screen, and set the gravity to thirty times Earth normal.Upon pressing the "Enter" button, a crash of artificially created gravity came crashing down on me.It was no challenge to stand, or even walk around under that level of gravity; after all, I had been training under it for practically five months.Still, I didn't deem myself powerful enough to progress up to forty times gravity, since I still often found myself physically wasted after an intense bout of training.

I moved away from the pillar, slowly collecting my breath in preparation for my training to commence.I breathed in deeply, shut my eyes for a split second, then opened them and exhaled.My mind was washed clear, a piece of unblemished white, just waiting to be marked.I quickly powered up my ki, charging it to its absolute max before channelling all of it into my hands.Lifting the two fists upward, I quickly levelled them in the air, and then extended my fingers outward, so my palms were exposed to the air.I fired both charges of ki simultaneously, pouring a white-emerald stream of power out of them, and through the air.

I had less than a split second to alter the course of the beams before they would've torn their way through the centre of the pod, and ending my day of training extremely prematurely.But since I'd been having practice at such alterations for practically my whole teenage life, I easily split the path of the pair apart before any damage could be done.I then circled both beams around the central pillar, so that they passed within an inch of each other on the other side of the column.They continued to travel in a circular path, repeatedly coming just millimetres away from a collision with one another, and the fatal explosion that would be sure to follow.

They looped around the pillar a number of times, increasing in speed with each pass.Once both blasts were sufficiently accelerated, I wrenched on them with my mind, tearing them away from their spherical paths, and sending them straight towards me.I brought my forearms up in a seemingly meagre display of defence, and with all the built up momentum the blasts carried with them, both smashed full force into my arms.

The ki exploded upon contact, blanketing the room in its drowning white light.My bare forearms burned with pain as the energy contained within the balls was released.I locked my eyes shut so they would not be damaged as the ki finished discharging.A few seconds passed, and the energy slowly dissipated all around, till there was nothing left but the throbbing within my arms.

I lowered both of my appendages, wanting to rub the soreness out of them, but instead indulging myself in it, allowing it to consume my body as a whole.Physical training could only do so much; at one point or another, you had to gut it out.I quickly zanzokened away from my position on the floor of the ship, reappearing in mid-air near the centre pillar.I could scarcely see the rays of light from the just dawning sun; the windows of the pod were tinted too darkly for any natural sunlight to seep through.I wanted to go outside and enjoy the world I was working so hard to protect, but at the same time I knew that any wasted time would only set me farther behind my fellow Z Warriors.

I began to practice a series of basic punches and kicks on the air, envisioning a make-believe opponent, and mapping out an attack strategy against it.I shot around the room, throwing as much power and speed as I could into each attack, knowing that with each blow, each swipe of the air, I was growing stronger.I soon grew caught up in my imaginary sparring match, finding it almost…exhilarating to be able to fight an opponent that didn't fight back.Wave after wave of attacks I sent after him, an ocean of contempt for his bodiless soul building within my mind.

My excitement and interest grew, to a point where I even gave my fake opponent a name:Robert.I thought it foolish at the time that I would be childish enough to be playing with pretend people; but before long I was lost in my hatred for Robert, lost in the way in which he expertly avoided each of my blows, forcing me to lunge at him once again, only to miss and repeat the same procedure over and over.I found myself grunting with exertion at one point, perhaps ten minutes into the match, again thinking it strange that I would have such detestation for an unreal opponent.Again though, Robert's incessant movements, his over-powering quickness and agility quickly distracted my mind.I continued fighting with him for several more minutes, before something in the back of my mind realized that the name "Robert" held some importance to me, some sub-real meaning that I'd long since forgotten.I had no time to think of this though, since Robert was once again driving me to frustration.

I soon developed a game of cat and mouse with Robert, finding that his pattern of defence was almost totally chaotic, and impossible to decipher.Beads of sweat ran down my forehead, my hair was damp, and I suddenly become conscious of the fact that he and I had been going at it for a little over an hour.My arms and legs burned, begging me to cease my hapless attack; yet I continued on, creating in my mind Robert's ugly face, which held giddiness and laughter within it; he was laughing at me.I pressed on, each punch, each attack becoming more and more desperate.Robert's face was familiar to me, I knew that, but I could not pinpoint where its origin came from.

We continued to play, another hour passing, another batch of muscles crying out in agony.I put all thoughts aside, allowing Robert's face to encompass my vision, knowing that its repulsiveness could only fuel my training.My breathing was far too laboured for my own good, and even though my heart was probably my strongest muscle, even it seemed to be on the edge of a breakdown, like it couldn't stand up to Robert.Soon my arms were numb, then my legs and neck followed suit.At that point even _I_ wanted to give up and admit defeat, but I told myself to continue on, and not let Robert beat me.

Anger could not describe my zealousness for Robert, my undying hatred and abhorrence.With a body limp from exertion, and a mind as numb to match, I found that Robert barely had to try to avoid me anymore, that his speed had increased exponentially, while mine had only faltered.For the final few minutes, a burning fear bore its way into my heart, as I realized Robert was going to win, that he had defeated me against all odds.

With one last, terrifyingly desperate lunge, I shot out towards Robert, a fist outstretched.He fired away from it with ease, leaving me to fall to the floor of the now steaming hot space pod.I lay on my chest for a number of seconds, unable to move in the slightest.I felt Robert move down towards me, till he stood just overhead.I sucked in as much oxygen as my lungs could take in, my very blood burning in pain and numbness.I somehow pushed myself up from the floor, my body supported shakingly on my hands and knees, and I looked up towards Robert's position.

There was an instant of non-understanding, of utter confusion, which was promptly swallowed whole by terror.I abruptly realized just who Robert was, who he had been, and what he was doing here.My father stood over me, his rough face smiling wickedly, his arms crossed in gleeful pleasure.I wanted to scream, to cry out in anger, but I could not, my throat was dry and hoarse."Pathetic."He said, his voice full of hate and odium._I killed you… I killed you, you son of a bitch,_ I thought, my body convulsing with the fear that ran down my spine.

"Now go along and be a good girl," he said as he brought his arm down from his chest and ran his hand through my hair.My back shivered in fear, in kindly panic.I could not defeat him, I could not do anything to him, and there was no one to help me, again.I was alone, and there would be no one to rescue me.My hands shook uncontrollably beneath me, as they clenched themselves into fists.

"No."I whispered, my voice barely audible through my cracked throat."I… I won't, let, you do this to me… not again."I tried to speak the words with conviction, but even I knew just how feeble they really were.

"You can't stop me, and I think you know that."_No, I **did** stop you, and I'll stop you again if I have to.I… I told myself I'd never let another person like you do this to another person like me, and… and I can't go back on my word, not now._My ki ran through my arms, a tidal wave of power rushing across my body._I won't leave someone else alone like you did to me father, I can't let you._The power formed itself into my hands, which were now alive and tingling with sensation._Never, never again._Energy the like of which I'd never felt before surged through me, burning its way into my palms, into my fists._Go back to hell father; it's the only place a man like you belongs._

I turned up to my father, my eyes stinging with tears and pain, my entire body vibrating in suffering and power, and I let loose all that anger that was pent up within me.A beam with a width far more than that of the pod sprung forth from my palms, heading straight at my father.I watched in helplessness as his entire body disappeared out of view before the beam could reach him._Fuck you. Fuck you to hell goddamnit!_I cried out in my mind, watching with disgust as my beam tore its way through the roof of the space pod, and pouring out into the sky, a shaft of light powerful enough to brighten the sky, yet not nearly powerful enough to kill the demons that haunted my mind.

I fell to the ground, my body utterly used up, my mind fried and discouraged beyond belief.I made one last heave with my body, only to fall back down in pain, my body finally getting its way as I passed out in pain._Next time I won't be alone father, and I'll make you pay for what you've done to me._


	3. Crono's Story (Chapter 36)

Crono's Story

**_ _**

Chapter 36

_ _

_Karnai_

_ _

I was once taught by Elder Muri that at one point or another in every beings life, there is a distinct moment of realization, an epiphany unlike any other that, if only for a brief moment, brings an unequalled level of clarity to that beings mind.This moment, I believe, occurred to me a week after Nikita's incident.

My transformation into a "Super Namek" (for lack of a better word) was something I had been nearly craving for over a few months.As only the second Namek to ever grow powerful enough to reach the stage, I felt a sort of pride in what I'd accomplished; so much so that actually reaching the stage seemed almost secondary to me.

But about a month after I understood that I was nearing this newfound level of power, I began to doubt as to whether I would reach this level at all.Simple Namekian biology dictated that when a Namek reached a certain height of power, their body would metamorphoses into a different version, a different model, one more able to handle large amounts of muscle and ki energy.During this process, a huge boost in power would be given to the Namek, like Piccolo was given when he fused with Nail on planet Namek; but no such increase in power seemed to even be coming on the horizon.

So when Yush and the other Caprians landed early, I found myself without the ability to battle with them as I wished too.If I had transformed before Yush's arrival, there would've been no need for Crono to be wished into creation, and by all accounts, Cris would still be a single being.Not only that though, but we would also have another pure-blooded saiyan left alive in Triono.

But for some reason, I had not transformed by their arrival, and so I was left in the cold; unable to be of any help against even Blanka, Yush's highest-ranking assistant.Though almost none of my fellow Z Warriors knew of my failed transformation, or of the power it yielded, I felt as though it had been my fault for our poor showing against Yush and his men; and also felt that I had to make up for it, to right a mistake I'd made at one of the Earth's most important periods of time.

Accordingly, I trained the absolute hardest I ever would in my life in the month following Yush's arrival.For almost four weeks, I pushed myself to my limits and beyond, using a gravity level almost twice that which I'd been utilizing before Yush's arrival, all the while just praying that I would break through a barrier that had held me back for far too long.So with a blind vigilance befitting of a warrior, my life was arbitrarily transformed into a living hell until I reached my "Super Namek" form.

The actual revolution of my body took place almost without my knowledge.One early morning, I was practicing my ki attacks by firing them into the sky from a small balcony of rock near my training zone, when a sudden and irrational tingling came up within my stomach, almost like I was anxious or something.I paused in my exercising for a moment, and pondered what could be causing the feeling.The sensation slowly passed, and I went back to training.Before a dozen seconds had passed however, the emotion returned, stronger and much farther-reaching, almost nearing my head and the contents within it.Almost as soon as the feeling reached me though, it had passed, and I felt as normal as ever.A bit mystified, I continued on with my training, unbeknown of the change that I had just undergone.

It wasn't until much later that day that I realized just what had happened.I stood in the open, and utterly crushed field that served as my training grounds, and slowly prepared myself to perform my Split Form technique.The technique itself usually wasn't that hard to do, since Namekians naturally had a penchant for splitting apart bodies and minds, but on that day, I found it difficult to perform, almost like something within me wanted to hold myself together.With a small amount of effort, I pulled off the manuever, and felt with a mix of terror and pain as my body ripped itself into two.

To portray the sensation of looking into one's own eyes, knowing that across from you is… you, is not a thing that can be described, nor even consciously thought, but to say the least, it is strange.I gazed across through my own eyes, _into_ my own eyes, and my match of selves began in earnest.

Since both versions of me thought so much alike, the opening assault was evenly matched.Both bodies rushed headfirst at the other, a nearly invisible exchange of fists occurring as both neared each other.Almost immediately after that first exchange, I noticed a distinct and noticeable difference in the rate of my attacks, in fact, both of me did.

Even so, I merely put the tidbit of information in the back of my mind, and quickly returned my attention to my sparring match.This time one of my bodies took the role of aggressor and rushed the other with a small dynamite-kick, along with a small ball of ki energy that was badly aimed, and merely exploded on the ground behind the defending body.Once the short offensive proved fruitless, the other body of mine attempted to take control over the other, by zanzokening behind it, and then powering up a double-handed ki beam.This tactic also established itself as useless after the shielding body easily thwarted the attack with a well-timed reverse kick to my body.

With that kick, I was hurled much farther than I'd anticipated, going nearly five hundred metres through the air before crashing into the ground; almost beyond the gravity field.Somewhat amazed at my own strength, neither body did much other than collect themselves for a few seconds, as both dropped into fighting stances and squared off against one another.

Both bodies quickly shot towards the other, attempting to nail one another with a flurry of Renzoku energy blasts.Both of me coped with the attacks, weaving their way through the flood of ki energy, all the while managing to keep their own stream of the attacks going, and nearing the other in an attempt to more easily nail the other body.Each missed ki blast struck the ground near the battling warriors, exploding with an impact far more powerful than that of any man-made bomb.Before long, the two became so close to one another that dodging the blasts were all but impossible, and soon one unlucky form was struck twice, and was sent soaring into the air.

Before that body even had a chance to orient itself, the other had zanzokened in front of it, and begun punching it mercilessly with fist after fist, impaling the body with green-skinned muscle and bone.Within a few seconds, over fifty punches had been dealt to the weakened body, which was by then out of breath and extremely disadvantaged.The attacking body was relentless, punching with extreme brutality, and almost wishing to kill the body with which it was psychically attuned.

The ferocity with which I attacked was almost frightening; I had never before wished harm upon myself when sparring through my Split Form technique, yet this time I felt an almost unquenchable _need_ to draw purple blood from this body, which was in essence my own.Yet even as I recognized this strange change of desire within myself, and realized just how sickening it was, the bloodlust within me grew stronger, calling upon me to punch with even more vigour, to cause as much pain as I could to this being which held the same heart as I.

The beauty of the Split Form manuever though, was that no matter what thoughts, emotions or strategies arose within the mind of one body, were almost certain to arise in the other.So it wasn't long before the body that had been taking the beating for most of the bout suddenly acquired the same yearning for pain as the other one.In one fluid motion, the defending body swept away a pair of punches from the attacking one, and then pounded its opponent towards the ground with a double-handed axe-hammer smash.I struck with such power and anger that my other body crashed into the ground with enough force to shatter the entire training ground into one huge impact crater.

The floored body lay in agony, its desire for pain suddenly overshadowed by its own agony.But while one of me had lost its sudden craving to inflict pain, the other had its only magnified ten-fold.My uppermost body powered up slightly, calling forth powers from deep within itself, and then fired its way straight towards the grounded body.

The now wounded Namekian form barely managed a defence against the onslaught of its twin, narrowly zanzokening away from its speedy counterpart, just as I was moving in for the kill.It reappeared where its opponent had previously resided, high in the air.With the two's positions switched, both turned hastily towards the other, and powered up.

The air began to crackle under the immense power of the two bodies, as white-yellow wisps of ki energy spread forth from both bodies, illuminating the morning sky in dull wan light.Suddenly the two whipped a single hand out, and shot a huge beam of ki energy at the other.The two rays met in the epicentre of the battle, and set the skies ablaze as each body pushed with all its might.

Both of my bodies began to feel the strain of the ki clash, as my muscles began to tense up, and then grow tired as energy reserves were depleted and the conflict intensified.I flew towards myself, pushing both upwards and downwards, two opposite forces both pushing towards the same goal.My arms began to burn, and I knew that holding onto this ki interaction would be impossible, without the loss of a large chunk of the Earth.With a huge explosion of energy, both ki beams were halted, and almost instantly both bodies flew towards one another, and began an intense bout of hand-to-hand combat.

A volley of fists and kicks were quickly thrown by each body, with neither landing a single blow.Despite the apparent futility of the combat though, both continued to swing at one another.Both of my ki's flared out at full strength, both increasing with an apparently unending source of power.

With both bodies attacking all-out, a stalemate soon grew apparent, and both minds began to search for a way to outmatch the other; both finding that doing so was impossible.When it seemed like I would inevitably become tired and the pace of the battle would slow down, only the exact opposite occurred; both bodies began to increase the tempo of their attacks, drawing upon forces I didn't even know I had within me.Finally after what seemed like an infinity of useless attacks, one body took a chance, and attempted to fire a small ki blast at the other.

The shot barely nicked the torso of the other body, but it had enough power within it to cause an explosion and send the body hurling down towards the ground.It connected with the floor, emitting a soft "thud" that rang through the air.Not content to merely wound myself, my uppermost body rocketed down towards the grounded Namek, my lustrous aura of white energy sending itself out in all directions.

Mere thousandths of a second before my bodies were to meet, the floored one sprung away with a surge of ki energy, causing the attacking body to collide with the ground, and disperse large portions of grass and dirt out in all directions, again creating an impact crater in the ground.

The apparent failure of my attack didn't even reach my mind before the urge to spring again was lit within me.I shot after myself, again coming within an inch of making contact, only to have my defending self shoot away in a blaze of ki, and leaving me to make a sizeable hole in the earth.

My two bodies continued to play the game of cat and mouse, chasing from one spot to the next, each time leaving one more hole in the earth, one more fissure of devastation for the planet to heal upon itself.The match continued for mere minutes, but in that time the already decimated battleground was torn even more asunder, leaving only the scarred remains of a field that had seen things far beyond its time.

Finally, both bodies stopped, their energy hopelessly sapped from a test of endurance unlike any they'd previously experienced.I stared at myself, across the barren wasteland I had created, and I was suddenly embowered in the realization of what I had done.Pits of dirt lay in flaming heaps, nary a speck of grass remaining within ten kilometres of my two positions, all signs of wildlife non-existent, as any unfortunate being that was within the vicinity was undoubtedly destroyed by wayward attacks of mine.I could feel newfound ki rising up within both of me, as an aura of white energy was expelling itself from my body; yet even as I felt this pristine energy emerge, I felt no need for its use, saw no point in its utilization.It suddenly seemed to me as if all I had done in that day had been for not, since instead of using my newfound strength to protect the planet that I so dearly loved, I had in fact only neared it closer to destruction.

My two pairs of eyes gaped down at the ruined floor beneath me, and I suddenly felt a very strong longing to remerge with myself, to again become whole and feel complete.All four eyes gradually drifted upwards, until they met in a sea of shimmering white light.I looked into my own eyes, and for the first time, realized just how vacant, just how apart they were, and as I pushed both bodies towards one another with my mind, even more power came rushing from within me, unlocking itself from some hidden cave in my body.My two bodies collided, and I was instantly reformed into a whole being; and that's when I realized it.

The knowledge that I had finally achieved my "Super Namek" form was only secondary to the epiphany that came to me at the same time.I apprehended that within the completeness I felt upon my two bodies becoming one, lay Earth's only chance for victory against the Caprians.Absolute and complete unity between all those fighting for the Universe's salvation would be our only hope in just under seventeen months.Without some sort of seamless bond between those of us who called ourselves "Z Warriors", the Caprians would win, and we would die.

I had fear in my heart not that this bond didn't exist yet, but that it may never exist, and that we would only grow farther apart as the time between now and the Caprians arrival passed by.These last months would be a time of change, a time of transformation, and my only prayer was that our revolution as a group would not produce as many disastrous results as mine did as an individual that day.

With a scream to shake the heavens, I cried out to my friends, and hoped that within my yell of completion, that they could find something within themselves to unite with, and something within each other as well. 


	4. Crono's Story (Chapter 37)

Chapter 37

Crono's Story

**_ _**

Chapter 37

_ _

_Yush_

_ _

Life had never been a thing you could take for granted.I had learnt this, some would say, the hard way, as a child born and raised on Vannattasan.There, with the deaths of millions of innocent beings occurring each and every week, life was held in a higher regard than anything else, beyond even freedom or power.This simple yet expansive inferiority complex is what allowed the Caprians to enslave my race, and bind the millions of other planets it conquered.

Yet on Earth, life _was_ taken for granted, and rightfully so it seemed.On this one small and diminutive, yet cosmically important planet, there was no fear of enemies and empires dominating innocent people, there was no such urge within the civilization itself.Wealth, power, supremacy, and prejudice… they were all extinct on Earth.And that, I realized, was why the planet's people loved it here so much.

In the month and a half I had spent on the planet, its beauty had never ceased to amaze me.There seemed to be no limit to the natural elegance that the lush green world offered, nor a boundary to the amount of man-made structures that both held their own grace, and also blended it with the Earth's natural splendor.There almost seemed an inexplicable balance of the two forces here, both natural and artificial constructs bringing their own aspect to the culture and society as a whole.Of all the things I never thought I'd see in my life, such a balance ranked near the top of my list.

Now I understood just why Crono, Yukia, Phoenix and the others fought so valiantly to protect this planet, there was just something about it that promised nothing but peace and hopefulness to the people that strode across it.Intangibles like this were also things that were sorely missed on Vannattasan and the other planets within the conglomeration of the Caprian Empire.

Still, all these realizations could never prepare me for the day Crono asked me to join his ragtag group of freedom fighters; a day I'll never forget.I'd come to think that he must've seen something within me, something that I didn't even know existed within myself, something the very Earth brings out in people.At that time though, I thought I could just delay my decision, holding off on a conclusion till something swayed me one way or another.And somewhere deep inside my heart, I was just praying that I would be persuaded towards betraying Crono and others. Instead though, my eyes and ears had only been tempted with the limitless fruits this planet had to offer, and the sheer innocence of its planet.

However, my eyes were not so astounded as to miss what I knew could become a very dangerous trait that almost all the Earthlings shared.The concept of trust was far too undervalued in this culture, with it often being thrown into the wind as quickly as the dispenser sees fit.This was not limited to merely the civilians of the planet either, but seemed to apply to everyone living on the sphere of water and dirt.Gideon, Nikita, Karnai, they all seemed more than willing to take me into the group, and even with my powerful sensory skills, I couldn't detect a hint of deceit from any of them.Even Phoenix, whom I had so severely injured in his Oozaru form, seemed more than willing to put that battle behind him, and concentrate on forming a new relationship, one that would benefit us both.The worst of them all though, was Crono.From the moment he'd offered me penance for my attack on his planet, right up until he'd given me a fully powered gravity device with which to train, I was amazed at how unconcerned he seemed about any chance of my betrayal.

There was a saying back at my home, "Only the foolish trust their enemies, and only the brilliant pretend to trust them."By the second week of my training, I had lost all idea of which type of trust Crono was putting into me.A very angular look at Crono's actions could reveal two different revelations:The first was that Crono was a complete idiot, blindly hoping that I had totally and utterly changed my morals, an idea that even the most headstrong would have trouble believing.The second theory was that Crono was in fact hoping _I_ was the blindly gullible fool, the one with blinders covering his only access to the world.Neither of the understandings produced seemed very enjoyable to me.

So even as I carried on with my training, I was merely holding out for that one defining moment when I would leave all doubts about allegiances behind, and just fight.The longer I trained for this moment though, the harder I found it to believe that the moment even existed at all.Despite all I found beautiful on this planet, there was the lingering doubt that the Caprian army was just far too powerful for the humans to catch up to in the limited amount of time they had.As it stood, the first wave of the empire's army could easily lay waste to the Z Warriors of the planet Earth.Crono, the most powerful of the rebels, had barely reached a power level of two million during his fight against me, and his friends were all drastically lower in fighting potential than even he.

This thought would linger in my mind for the next couple of months, as I progressed with my training.And as the trust between my human associates and I increased, so did their supplementing of my training.Since I had been drafted into the Caprian army, I had been taught that the reason they only allowed certain warriors different amounts of gravity training was because their bodies were training under the maximum they could ever handle.This, it became known to me, was not true at all.When Nikita was showing me around my training pod, she'd said, "And this is the gravity device, where you can change the level of gravity anywhere from point one to five hundred times Earth-normal gravity."

I'd then replied, "Ah, I'll only be using a fifth of that maximum then, my body can't take all of it."

"What?"She'd asked back, her voice hanging on tedious."One hundred gravities?I can almost train under that, so you should be able to do much more."

I'd regarded her strangely, considering she was lying in order to crush me under a level of gravity I couldn't handle, but the pure exasperation in her eyes told me she was speaking the truth."Here, let me show you," she'd said.

She'd walked over to the control panel for the gravity device and quickly set it to fifty times normal gravity, before hitting the "ON" button.Almost instantly, the air gained its newfound weight, and I was pushed downward by the force, my legs holding strong under the newfound pressure.To my surprise, Nikita was also able to easily withstand the new weight on her back; in fact, she seemed to have a full range of motion under the heavy gravity."See," she'd said cocksure, her face twisted in some sort of grin.She rose her ki to it's maximum in a few seconds, and then began to zanzoken around the room, her pace almost at the same speed as it would be in normal gravity.To say I was amazed by such a feat would be a drastic understatement, as I myself was barely able to perform such a feat a year before, and I was much stronger than her at that point in time.

After a few more seconds of demonstration, she'd come to a halt in front of the display panel again, and shut down the gravity well back to normal.She'd then exited, and left me to wonder just how far I was able to go…

I stood up from my bed, quickly changed into fresh training clothes, reluctantly put on the wrist, ankle and chest weights that accompanied the garb, and then set up the short ladder into the training center.I trotted over to the gravity device, and saw the preset level I'd been using for the past week, "170 G", seventy more gravities than I'd ever used while a Caprian soldier.I sighed heavily, leaning in to turn the machine on, but stopped myself just short.I paused for a short while, considering whether or not I thought I could do it, before finally punching in a few short numbers on the keypad, and then turning the piece of equipment on.

A hundred and eighty multiples of my normal weight suddenly pulled itself downwards, my legs quivering as they tried to support my newborn weight.It took me several seconds to adjust, but once I had, it seemed almost the exact same as when I'd been training under 170 gravities, just the day before.I figured at one point in a warrior's training, the sheer redundancy of the preparation must drive the person insane; I decided I was nearing that point very quickly.

I slowly walked away from the panel, into a more open space, then kneeled to the floor, placed my hands on the smooth metallic surface, and hoisted myself upright, my entire weight being supported by the sheer strength of my arms.I began doing pushups in this position, the weight of all those gravities bearing down on me, straining my strength to the utmost, and taxing my mind in a way that cannot be described.It took all I had to perform even a hundred of the push-ups, and, much to my chagrin, that wasn't anywhere near my target.Three hundred push-ups later, I'd lost all the feeling in my arms, my back also turning numb with each agonizingly long push, and the thought of doing two hundred more rested on the corner of my mind, nagging me like a small child does to a parent.My entire torso was covered in sweat, the blood rushing to my head providing an almost anesthetic opposite to the rest of my body.My hands were slippery, my eyes watering as every nerve in my body seemed to cry out for me to stop, only to be forced to endure another grueling test.

Just as the miniature counter in my brain was nearing the four hundred and fifty mark, a small beep went off from the main computer, alerting me it was supposed to be time for me to eat.My mind, numb as it was, reflexively responded, and my hand, wet from my own sweat, slipped off of the floor.

My head, close enough to the floor for my hair to touch the ground, yet not close enough for it to hit the ground first, crashed towards the flooring, only for my damned instincts to act up, whipping my head up, and forcing my neck to take the brunt of the nearly 80 tones of weight that came crashing down on me.A sickening crack shot out into the air, and I collapsed to the ground.

I lay on the floor, all the weight in the world seemingly being pulled down on me, the crack that had shot out from my neck still ringing its way through my ears and my mind.I breathed deeply, a dull and subtle pain creeping its way up through my back, into my arms and down my legs.My head spun, already exhausted from the mental anguish of my training, and the pain that rang throughout my body did little to relax me.I tried to sit up, so that I could breathe at a slightly easier rate, but I found myself strangely unable to do so.There was a small warning that instantly went off inside my brain, but I tried to pay it no mind, reasoning that my upper body was too sore from the exercise to move.

Naturally, I next tried to move my legs so that I could use them to get up, but also found that I was unable to even shift them in the slightest.I fought the urge of panic that was blaring within my head, and took in a few more deep breaths before realizing I was completely paralyzed.

My gasps became shorter and shorter as my body failed to respond to any command more complex than simple breathing.I tried to keep calm, but any attempts at that quickly proved futile, as the idea of becoming a prisoner within my own body didn't seem all that enticing.I quickly began to hyperventilate, as I also realized I'd lost all feeling within my body, even that of my face upon the hard metal beneath me.My lungs were quickly depleted of air, and before long, I had almost passed out from lack of oxygen.

Spent far worse than I'd ever been before in my life, I tried to cry out for someone to help me, but my throat wouldn't respond, as though it had been cut off from my mind.My breathing slowly returned to normal, but I was still unable to move any part of my body, even my neck or jaw.I lay on the floor for several minutes, just praying to Kami that the feeling would soon return.

Minutes soon turned to hours, as the sun slowly passed directly over my pod, and began to inch its way to the westerly horizon.After a while, the sun passed into the angle of the window of the space shuttle, and the streams of light poured themselves over the interior of the ship, and over me.My mind was frozen from lack of stimulation, but this newfound sunlight seemed to suddenly arouse its workings, as with each ray of light that pounded its way into my eye, a distinct cell within my brain seemed to fizzle to live.Unfortunately for me, almost all of the cells that were activated by the light seemed to come from the memory portion of my brain.

A slow rush of long-lost emotions and memories fought their way to the forefront of my mind, each playing before me as though I was supposed to be recalling them for a reason.In the back of my mind, I recalled a conversation Phoenix and Gideon had had about the memories of beings flashing before their eyes as they die.I tried to deny that what was occurring to me was such an experience, but something deep within myself told me that the memories I was calling out from the deep bowels of my mind could only be those accompanied with death.

There was the demise of my siblings, all six of them, when the Caprians had come to my house to take me into their training facilities.There was the vision of their six, small, fragile bodies lain awkwardly on the floor, nary a sign of blood to be found.

There was my first fight in one of the training arenas on the Caprian home world.There was the sound of the man's scream as I broke his neck, just as my teachers had taught me.They didn't tell me he'd scream, or that his death would be such a waste.That was one thing they'd never taught.

There was my one and only chance to leave the Caprians, an offer presented to me by one of my superiors, who turned out to be a traitor to the Caprian Empire.There was the pain I felt as I turned him into my other commanding officers, and watched them brutally murder him before my eyes. 

There were so many wasted moments, so many feeble attempts at a real life.One came to the surface, and played before me, enchanting my mind, and symbolizing everything I had worked for.

_"I want to be the strongest, I **have** to be the strongest."_

Commander Iazola had never understood, he had only understood his loyalty to the Emperor, and nothing could ever touch that loyalty.The same could not be said of me, for anything.

_"Don't you understand?No one can be the strongest, besides the King."_

I'd hated him his entire life, because he was the one who'd held me back.He was the one who had always restricted what I could become, what choices I had before me, and what chances I had for my life.I'd hated him with an unrivaled passion, my very soul cursing his existence.

_"Why is only he the strongest?"_

But he wasn't the only one; there were countless like him, all the same, all just like Iazola, all those years ago.Each of their memories arose to the surface as well, all recalling exactly the same conversation I'd had with my mentor back on that day.

_"Because he was born that way, it was determined by the Gods."_

Each one was the same, each one tortured my soul as they burned their way into my mind, yet each was different, each was a separate voice that repeated the same message over and over through my flock of recollections.

_"I know I could be stronger than him, if you gave me the chance."_

And in the background of my flashback of memories, was a melody… an enchanting rhythm of beats and movements that signaled the end. A song unlike any other that called me into death, and yearned me towards eternal life.And the song was beautiful.

_"Foolish boy, no one chooses to be the strongest, it's something you are the moment you're conceived."_

__The song beckoned me to hear it to the end; to listen to it's mesmerizing rhythm to the very conclusion, and every fiber in my body told me to do the same.

_"Well I know when I was born, I was meant to be the strongest, and that's why I'm here, to become the strongest!"_

It wasn't time for the song to win yet, it wasn't meant to be!I needed to survive; I needed to live, to finally become what I was meant to be, to finally hold my life in my own hands.My death was before me, but I couldn't let that song finish just yet, I had so much more to do, and so much more of this life to live.I had to reject this beautiful song, and carry on.

_"I wish you the best, boy, but know that when your end comes, you will not be the one who holds the title of most powerful, you will never have that chance, have that choice."_

__My vision was lost into the song; any urge to live seeming less and less important with each passing second.A blind shadow of my former self, I lay with only the song as my companion, nothing else in the universe touching me in the slightest.Then, slowly, my vision returned, but it was changed, altered so that I was no longer stranded on the floor of my shuttle.Instead I stood in a grassy pasture on Vannattasan, my legs beneath me, and my eyes staring off into the green-blue sky.The song was part of the image; it was interwoven between each blade of grass, enthroned in the very soul of the scene itself.Then, there came a flash of magnificent yellow light from off the right edge of the sky, and the light was Crono, who was also somehow part of the magnificent tune, part of the grass from my home that tickled my toes and sent shivers up my spine.They were all knotted together, all three things, they were all one and the same.And they were all beautiful.

_"I will prove you wrong, I know I will."_

__The song faded from my mind, seeped into nothingness at a snail's pace, and I knew I had survived.I had finally proved them wrong, and I finally had that chance to be the strongest, to become better than anyone else, even Crono.I'd been given the choice.

And as I curled my toes, and stretched my fingers, I realized that was the true meaning of this place, this sphere in the heavens they called Earth.Here, there was a choice of what you were, it wasn't bred in you as I was taught, it was whatever you wanted it to be; and there was nothing to stop you from fulfilling your chance, which meant there was nothing to stop me.

I slowly pushed myself up from the floor, all signs of pain gone from my body, my mind purged of any such agony.The memory of the song quickly fading away, as were all my other memories; all that was left was the newfound comprehension that I was limitless from this point on, and I owed it all to the Earth, to Crono.

The moment I'd been waiting for had come, and I'd made my decision.I would fight for Earth, for Crono, and I would win.


End file.
